Foreign minister to join OIC meeting on Israeli aggression

Foreign Minister Hasan Mahmud, now in Türkiye, will attend an extraordinary meeting of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers in Jeddah on 5 March to discuss the continued Israeli aggression against Palestinian people.

The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) will hold the meeting at the headquarters of its General Secretariat in Jeddah, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

From Türkiye, Foreign Minister Hasan will travel to Jeddah to attend the meeting, a senior official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told UNB.

During his participation in the Antalya Diplomacy Forum in Türkiye on 1-3 March, the Foreign Minister described the event as a significant platform for international dialogue.

At the Forum, Hasan emphasised the urgent need for a collective effort to end the ongoing genocide in Gaza, holding Israel accountable for committing crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing.

OIC Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha is expected to address the opening session of the OIC meeting, to be preceded by a preparatory senior officials meeting (SOM) today to discuss and adopt the draft agenda and work programme and consider the draft resolution before submitting it to the Council of Foreign Ministers the following day, according to OIC headquarters.

In November last year, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia hosted the extraordinary joint Arab and Islamic Summit, in Riyadh, jointly organised by the OIC and the League of Arab States.

The Conference adopted a number of decisions, in particular assigning a committee of the Foreign Ministers of Member States, to tour world capitals and international organisations to stop Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people.

As part of its continued efforts to stop the brutal Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people since 7 October, the OIC also held an open-ended executive committee extraordinary meeting at the foreign minister level, at its headquarters on 18 October last year.

In an interview with TRT World, Minister Hasan highlighted the lack of sufficient global action to halt the violence and atrocities in Gaza.

"What's happening in Gaza is simply crimes against humanity. Not only crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing is going on," he stated, pointing out the devastating toll on civilians, with over 30,000 people, predominantly women and children, killed in the conflict.

The Foreign Minister said they have not seen enough effort to stop this "war and genocide" and Israel is violating all the norms of any war.

Representing Bangladesh at the Forum in Türkiye, Hasan underscored the potential of the global community gathered there to play a pivotal role in addressing these atrocities.

"I think we can raise our united voices to stop these atrocities, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity in Gaza and stop Israel," he was heard saying in the video interview.

The Forum, initiated by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Türkiye and under the patronage of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, ended on March 3.

This year's edition convenes heads of state, government officials, diplomats, business leaders, academics, and representatives from various sectors to discuss "Advancing Diplomacy in Times of Turmoil", the theme for this year.